Overhead measuring and loading construction



C. S. JOHNSON OVERHEAD MEASURING AND LOADING CONSTRUCTION Dec. 2,1192%.

2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 26, 1925 INVENTOR. ("'fl/IRLES S. Jo/swsom C. S. JOHNSON OVERHEAD MEASURING AND LOADING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 26 19213 2 SheetsSheet 2 s TONE ATTORNEYS:

CHARLES S. JOHNSON, OF CHLMEIAIGN, ILLINOIS.

OVERHEAD MEASURING AND LOQDING CONSTRUCTION.

' Application filed Kay 26,

To all whom. it may concern.

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Champaign, county of Champaign, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Overhead Measuring and Loading Construction; and I do hereby 'declare that the following is a full, clear, and

' exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which likenumerals' refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to furnish an overhead measuring and loading construction for sand, gravel, crushed stone for concrete, and other loose material, the parts of which are made in units that may be readily transported, readily assembled to make a rigid sturdy structure and readily disassembled as required.

Another object is to provide such construction with areceiving bin mbunted removably on a pair of horses separated to admit'the passage between them of a truck ,or wagon to. be loaded, and providing. at

the lower discharge end of the bin measuring hoppers, preferably two pairs of them, provided with valve mechanisms for controlling the discharge thereof, and a plat; form on each support for an operator to stand and be in position to operate the valve or valves and be able to observe that the measuring hoppers ,are always full, before operating the discharge valve'or valves.

It is well known that a great amount of labor and'expense is involved in hauling large bulks of road-building material and the like at much inconvenience and loss of time by the methods employed heretofore. By providing a structure and equipment such as herein described and illustrated, much labor, cost and time is saved, because the bunkers, although large in order to contain great bulks of such materials, can be readily moved about and changed in position and set up close to the scene of operations, be filled from railway cars at railway sidings, and the material withdrawn in measured quantities into trucks for transportation to the place for use. Road work and other work requiring loose building materials capable offlowing by gravity, may thereby be continued withoutinterruption at considerable distances from the place of installation of the bunkers, and the latter may 1923. Serial No. 641,692.

be moved to other vantage points as the .work proceeds and be again set up with a minimum loss of time. Also the measuring hoppers are readily operable by a single workman who is always in position to be sure that the hoppers are full before discharging the contents, and thus accurately measure the materials handled.

The foregoing and other important novel features of this invention will be more fully understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims. y

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section through said construction, with the bin in elevation however, and a truck in position to be loaded, indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the bin. Fig. 4 is a vertical central transverse section through the bin and outlet mecha nism. Fig. 5 is an elevation of discharge hopper and valve means for the storage bin, parts being broken away. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the lower end of the measuring hopper, and its discharge controlling means,

parts being broken away.

Briefly and broadly stated, said measuring and loading construction consists of a pair of supports or horsesl 10 mounted on a layer of planks 11 on the ground 12 and a skeleton structure or cradle 13 supported on the horses which carries a storage bin 14 for receiving. the material, with .one or more measuring hoppers 15 to receive the materialfrom said bin and located below the same in position to discharge into a truck 16 below, the dischar e being controlled by a valve mechanism 1 operated by the workman standing on the platform 18 on one of the horses 10 located so that he can see readily the tops of ,themeasuring hoppers and determine whether or not they are full and to close the upper valve mechanism 19 when the measuring hoppers are full.

Since one of the features of this invention is the ready removability, transportinand assembling atany desired place, sai structure, I smooth the ground and lay'a series of planks 11' thereon, side by side, like a bridge. horses near each end of the plank founda Upon the planks I locate the tion, and so that the planks extend under both. horses. This gives a steady support for the horses and one very economically made, and also furnishes a good foundation for the trucks to run in between the horses and have the top of the truck bed always about the same distance from the measuring hoppers and properly centered with relation to the hoppers, so that the material therefrom, in discharging by gravity, will always fall into the truck bed. The centeringof the truck with relation to the measuring hop= pers is predetermined by the positions of the two horses, they being located so as to permit the passage between them of the truck and yet not allow sufficient lateral displacement of the truck to cause any of the material to be discharged outside of the truck bed. The storage bin at the top of thestructure is hopper-shaped and composed of inclined sides 20 and vertically-disposed ends 21 adapted to interlock, as shown in Fig. 4. Each of the sections 20 is composed of horizontally disposed plank-s secured to upwardly inclined braces 22 on the outside thereof, see Figs. 2 and 4; and on the inside, there are end cleats 23 against which the verticali sections 21 are placed, as seen in Fig. 2. The vertical sections 21 are composed of vertical planks secured to horizontal bars 24 at the I top, bottom and middle thereof. In assembling these sections of the bin, the end sec tions 21 are placed on and against the side sections 20 and rest against the inside end cleats 23 of the side sections, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

When two sorts of material are desired to be handledand usedtogether, as for instance stone and sand in mixing concrete mate rial, the bin is divided into two compartf ments, 9. stone compartment and a sand com-t partment, by a partition formed of the memers 30 and 31, as seen in Fig. 4. The upper partition member 30 is located so that its upper portion will be about midway between the ends of the bin and it inclines downwardly and outwardly towards the sand section and abuts against the upper end of the partition member 31, which is inclined in the opposite direction, and at its lower end extends to a point about midway between the sides of the outlet of the bin. This furnishes two bin sections with substantially equal inlets at the upper end to receive the materials, but the capacity of the ,two bin sections differs. In Fig. .4, as shown, thesand section is of smaller capacity than the stone section.

The bin is mounted on the frame heretofore referred to as frame 13 or cradle. The

' cradle frame as herein shown consists of horizontal side beams adapted to rest in the channel beam 36, as seen in Fig. 1. Cross beams 37- are secured upon the side beams 35. Vertical brace bars 38 extend vertically from each end of each end beam 35 and the adjacent cross beam 37, and an upper set of cross beams extends between and are coneted to the bar 40 and to the short inclined;

brace 44 extending outwardly at right angles to the bar 41 and secured to both the beams 37 and 40. The upper ends of the bars 41 are secured to side braces 45 by angle plates 46. The braces 45 extend from the side bottom beams 35 and are secured to the ends of the cross beam 37 by the plate 145. This-brace 45 is inclined upwardly and outwardly, as shown in Fig. 1. There are cross channel irons 47 and 48 fastened to the triangular plates 42 and 46 and to the bars 41, as shown in Fig. 3. As seen in Fig. 3, there are two bars 41 on each side of the machine. There are also on the sides, as seen in Fig. 3, inclined braces 50 secured to the brace plates 51 at their lower ends and a brace plate 52 at its upper end. The plate 52 is fastened to the horizontal bar 47. The plates 51 are fastened to the beams 35 and vertical bars 38 and 45.

The bars 47 and 48, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, are set back of the faces of the bars 41 and serve as supports for the inclined side member of the bin, the bars 22 of the bin frame resting on the cross bars 47 and 48 of the cradle frame and the cross planking 20 resting against the inclined bars 41. This arrangement enables the inclined side portions of the bin to rest by gravity on the side portions of the cradle frame, the end portions 21 of the bin to be inserted between the side portions of the bin. These parts all interlock and are not secured to each other. Hence they can readily be put together or separated.

At the outlet of the bin, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, there is a metal dish-shaped frame formed of side plates 55 and a bottom plate 56. The side plates 55 are secured to the .bars 40, as seen in Fig. 1, and thelower end of the bin is inserted in the upper part of said dish-shaped frame so as to discharge therein. The bottom of said dish-shaped frame has four outlets 57, two for each chamber in the bin. In Fig. 4 two of these four outlets appear. There is also an I beam 58 transversely of the dish-shaped frame 55 on which the lower end of the partition131 is located, as seen in Fig. 4. The

dish-shaped frame 55 and the I beam 58 are i all riveted to the other parts of the cradle frame so as to be rigid.

. The two of these combined in making concrete. Because less sand is desired than stone, the sand section of the bin is smaller than the stone section thereof.

These measuring hoppers are doubly conical and are mounted in the rectangular portion of the cradle frame heretofore described. Their details constitute no new part of this invention, and, therefore, they need not be set forth herein.

The outlets from the bin arecontrolled by handoperated valves 19 mounted at the bottom of the dish-shaped frame by the hoppers 66. The arrangement of the valve 19 is shown in Fi 5. The valve 19 is pivoted on the pivot%0 and has a shank 71 extending therefrom to which the handle 68 is fastened. The exact nature of this valve is immaterial in this invention, but it may be stated that the construction herein shown may be operated in pairs, one of the stone valves 19 being connected with one of the sand valves by a connecting rod 67, and said pair of valves being operated by the hand lever 68. Consequently there would be two sets of these valves and two hand levers 68.

There are also valves 17 controlling the outlet of the measurin hoppers 15, see Figs. 1, 3 and 6. These valves are hinged at 75 to a' frame 76 secured to the hopper, so that the valve when opening, drops downward instead of being turned laterall like the valves 19. There is a rib plate 7 secured to the valve which is connected by a toggle link 78 with a hand lever 79 ivoted at 80 to the frame 76. There is anot er hand bell crank lever 81 pivoted at 80 and connected by a connecting rod 82 with a bell crank lever 83 mounted on the frame 76 secured to the other measuring ho per 15 of the pair, as seen in Fig. 1. A ink 84 extends from the lever 83 to the plate 77 on the valve 17 for such other measuring hopper. The lever 79 has secured to it a stop arm 85 adapted to engage the frame 76 and limit its movement when the valve 17 is closed. The lower ends of the hoppers are held in relative position by a connecting rod secured to and extending between them, and

braces 91 extend centrally from the lower part of the cradle frame to each end of the horses 10 for holding the latter in place relative to the super-structure. The channel beam 36 on the u per end of each horse is mounted on" an I am 92, said I beam and channel beam together giving a very rigid construction for the upper ends of the horses and for the support of the super structure. After the tie rods 91 are released, the super-structure can be removed i by merely lifting it up from the channel beam; in other wordsfthe super-structure is held in place in the channel beam by gravity just as the bin is held in place in the cradle frame by gravity.

The platform 18 is provided on the inside of each horse near the middle thereof, consisting of a plank support on cross bars 94 in position for a man to stand on'the plank or platform for operating the valves, and also observation being enabled to determine that the measuring hoppers are full. In other words, aman standing on the plank 18 will be in the right position for operating the levers 79 and 81 by hand and his head will extend up into'the hollow rectangular frarhealmost to the upper beam 40, so that his eyes will beon a level with the tops of the measuring hoppers. He can then be sure that the measuring hoppers are full before he closes the upper valves 19. When he opens said valves, the stone and sand flow by gravity into the hoppers until the are full. Then he closes the valve 19 an opens the lower valves, whereupon the material in the hoppers descends by gravity into the truck bed 16 below. TVhen the measuring hoppers have discharged the operate the valves for all four of the measuring hoppers from one platform 18; in this manner the mechanism is easily operated and the material is discharged into the wagon by measurement and by proper proportion. There' is a fender bar 95 secured to each horse at the lower end in position to engage the truck wheels and properly center the truck bed under the measuring hoppers and keep the truck bed from engaging the platforms 18.

In assembling the structure, the ground is first smoothed at the desired location and the planks 11 laid side by side sufiiciently wide for the horses and truck. Then the horses are placed thereon sufficiently far apart to receive the cradle frame above. The *cradle frame is then placed on the horses'and the braces 91 put in place and tightened. Then the side sections of, the

hopper are laid in on the inclined portions of the cradle frame and the front and back portions of the hopper placed in upon the side portions thereof. This completes the assembly without any bolts or other means for fastening the parts of the structure together. They are held in place by gravity because they are constructed sons to so hold them. This enables the structure to be readily disassembled and transported on a truck-tosome other place. By reason of said construction, the structure can be readily located anywhere desired, or changed in crate all the valves for loading the trucksposition and readily operated. One workman on one of the platforms 18 can opas they are driven under the measuring hoppers', one after the other.

The invention claimed is:

1. A structure for loading loose material .including apair of supports between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, a frame resting upon the upper ends of said supports, and a bin resting upon said frame, said members being held together by gravity, and the adjacent parts thereof interlocking to prevent displacement, whereby they can be readily assembled, disassembled and transported as desired.

2. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of horses between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, a frame resting upon the upper ends of said horses, a bin resting upon said frame, said members being held together by gravity, and

' the adjacent parts thereof interlocking to and the adjacent 'to prevent disp acement, .and diagonal prevent displacement, and a platform on the ground ifOI'IIlGd of transversely extending planks adjacent each other and on the ends lanks said horses rest by gravity, whereby they can be readily assembled, disassembled and transported as desired.

3. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of horses between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand,- a'frame resting upon the upper ends of said horses, a bin resting upon said frame, said members being held together by gravity, and the adjacent parts thereof interlocking to prevent displacement, and removable diagonal braces connecting the upper part of the horses to the central part of said frame, whereby they can be readily assembled, disassembled and transported as desired. A

4. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of horses between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, the

upper ends of the horses having each a longitudinally extending channel beam, a frame having under each side thereof a. beam adapted to rest by gravity in said channel beam on the horse below it, and a bin resting upon said frame, said members being held to ether by gravity and the adjacent parts t. ereof interlocking to prevent displacement.

5. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of horses between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, the upper ends of the horses having longitudinally extending channel beams, a frame having under each side thereof a beam adapted to rest by gravity in said channel beam on the horse below it, a bin resting upon said frame, said members being held together by ravity arts thereof inter ocking braces connecting the upper part of the horses to the central part of said frame, in both the front and rear structure.

6. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of lateral supports between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand; a cradle-shaped frame with its ends resting on said supports, the inner. sides of said frame being inclined downwardlytowards each other, and a downwardly tapering bin resting on and in said cradle-shaped frame with a central outlet in the lower part thereof, said members being held together by gravity and the adjacent parts thereof interlocking to prevent displacement.

7 A structure for loading loose material including a pair of lateral supports between which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, a cradle-shaped frame composed of a lower rectangular frame adapted to rest by gravity upon said supports and with'upwardly and outwardly inclined sides secured to and extending from the rectangular portion of the frame, and a downwardly tapering bin resting on and in said cradle-shaped frame with a central outlet in the lower part thereof, said members being held together by gravity and the adjacent parts thereof'interlooking to prevent displacement.

8. A structure for loading loose material including a pair of lateral supports between -which the vehicle to be loaded may stand, a

cradle-shaped frame adapted to rest upon said supports formed with upwardly extending beans at each end of the sides, and intermediate transverse beams secured to said end beams and set back from the face of said end beams, and a hopper including inclined side sections adapted to be loosely placed on the inclined sides of said cradle frame, said hopper section being formed of longitudinal boards which bear against the end bars of the sides of the cradle frame, and upwardly extending bars secured to the planking of the bin and bearing against the cross bars of the side of the cradle frame so that the side of the cradle frame will directly contact with and support both the horizontal planking and the upright bars of the bin section.

. 9. A structure for measuring loose material and loading it including a pair of lateral supports between which the truck to be loaded may stand, a frame loosely mounted upon the upper ends of said supports, a V-shaped bin loosely mounted upon said frame with two outlets at the lower end, a partition in the bin dividingit into two unequal compartments, one adapted to discharge through each outlet, and a measuring hopper mounted in said frame for each outlet, the measuring hopper for the smaller compartment of the bin being relatively smaller than the measuring hopper for the other compartment of the bin.

10. A structure for measuring loose material and loading it including a pair of laterally placed supports between which the truck to be loaded may stand, a frame loosely mounted upon the upper ends of said supports, a V-shaped bin loosely mounted upon said frame with outlets at the lower end, a measuring hopper for 'each outlet mounted in said frame, valve mechanism for controlling said measuring hoppers, and a platform on the inner side of each support in position for the workmen to stand thereon and operate said valves. 1

11. A structure for measuring loose material and loading it including a pair of laterally placed supports between which-the truck to be loaded may stand, a .frame platform on the loosely mounted upon the upper ends of-said supports, a V-shaped bin ,looselymounted upon said frame with outlets at the lower end, a measuring hopper for each outlet mounted in said frame, valve mechanism for controlling the inlet of material to the hoppers, valve mechanism for controlling the outlet of material to the hoppers, and a inside of each supportaipon which the workman may stand and in position to enable him to operate said Valves and also see if the hoppers are full before they are discharged,

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

CHARLES s. JOHNSON. 

